Electrohydrodynamic Techniques for Heat Transfer Enhancement
Summary
Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) techniques harness electric fields to induce or augment fluid motion, thereby strengthening convective heat transfer without relying on mechanical moving parts. By exploiting corona discharge to ionise a working medium, ions are accelerated through an applied potential and collide with neutral molecules, generating a so-called ionic wind. Variants of this approach include solid-state plasma actuators, EHD pumps for dielectric liquids, and the integration of electric fields with nanoparticle-laden fluids to boost thermal conductivity and mixing. Design parameters such as electrode geometry, spacing and polarity dictate ion production, flow velocity and energy efficiency. Recent advances have focused on reducing inception voltage, optimising electrode arrays, integrating air-amplification strategies and tailoring nanoparticle suspensions, all aimed at practical thermal management solutions for electronics cooling, compact heat exchangers and sustainable ventilation systems.
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Electrohydrodynamic Techniques for Heat Transfer Enhancement publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in electrohydrodynamic techniques for heat transfer enhancement across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Electrohydrodynamics: The study of fluid motion induced by electric fields through ion–molecule interactions and space-charge forces.
Corona discharge: A partial electrical breakdown of a fluid near a conductor in a high electric field, ionising molecules without full arcing.
Ionic wind: A bulk flow of neutral fluid generated by momentum transfer from electrostatically accelerated ions to surrounding molecules.
Plasma actuator: A device that creates a localized region of ionised gas to produce flow acceleration or boundary-layer modification for thermal or aerodynamic control.
Nanofluid: A suspension of nanoscale particles in a base fluid, employed to enhance thermal conductivity and convective heat transfer when subjected to external fields.
References
- Review on the History, Research, and Applications of Electrohydrodynamics. IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science (2014).
- A Review on Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) Pump. Micromachines (2023).
- A Review on Heat Transfer of Nanofluids by Applied Electric Field or Magnetic Field. Nanomaterials (2020).
- An in-silico proof-of-concept of electrohydrodynamic air amplifier for low-energy airflow generation. Journal of Cleaner Production (2023).
- Experimental Investigation on Flow and Heat Transfer Characteristics of a Needle-Cylinder Type Ionic Wind Generator for LED Cooling. Energies (2018).
- Efficient needle plasma actuators for flow control and surface cooling. Applied Physics Letters (2015).
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